AUT appeals for action against varsity syndicate for “misleading senate”

"The decisions taken on the agenda under compulsion only proves that the Vice Chancellor has lost the confidence of the syndicate and the moral authority," said State president of the AUT

Association of University Teachers (AUT) has urged the Governor and Chancellor of universities in Tamil Nadu to take action against the syndicate of Bharathidasan University for “misleading the senate” on the issue of recruitment of new teachers. Citing the minutes of the syndicate meeting, the AUT letter said that the Deputy Secretary of Department of Higher Education, A. Suguna, had on behalf of the Principal Secretary, requested the Chairperson, Vice Chancellor K. Meena, to defer all the agenda at the recent meeting of the syndicate to the next sitting.

The Vice Chancellor had also endorsed the request of the Deputy Secretary, but other syndicate members constituting majority had “objected” to the views of the Vice Chancellor and Deputy Secretary, and insisted that all the agenda be taken up at that meeting itself. The agenda was then taken up for consideration as per sub-section (3) of section 26 of the Bharathidasan University Act 1981.

However, the minutes of the senate meeting held last month state that the agenda on appointments in the university had been “unanimously” approved by the syndicate. The syndicate should not have insisted on the agenda after the Vice Chancellor announced deferment of the agenda. The decisions taken on the agenda under compulsion only proves that the Vice Chancellor “has lost the confidence of the syndicate and the moral authority,” K. Pandiyan, State president of the AUT, said in the representation to the Governor.

The AUT’s university coordination council had earlier taken to the attention of the Chancellor and the Department of Higher Education “blatant violations of the UGC Regulations in the recruitment of teachers made by the university in February 2011, based on which the State government ordered an enquiry by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC). The university had gone ahead with the new recruitments at a time when the action on the DVAC report submitted to the government was pending. “The AUT appeals that suitable actions may be initiated to eliminate violation of the UGC Regulations as delay in corrective measures would only embolden perpetuation of violation of norms,” the letter said.